New Facebook App Is Actually Spyware In Disguise
Is Facebook too friendly?
It seems the social behavior of the networking site's users is itself to blame for the proliferation of a spyware application on users' computers.
Users are invited to find out who their "secret crush" may be by adding a new Facebook widget to their Facebook accounts. (Widgets are the names of third-party developed applications for Facebook that allow users to share information, play games, or send specific kinds of messages to each other. They are not supposed to capture and store users' information.)
Once the application is installed, it attempts to download a well-known spyware program called Zango. Internet and computer security provider FortiGuard actually calls it "the infamous Zango adware/spyware." That means treat it like the color red in nature -- stay away.
The whole purpose of Facebook is to add and use these widgets freely to better enhance the social networking experience, which many users do without considering what information they may be sharing and with whom. In this, users are giving away not only their own information but providing more potential victims by inviting their own friends to add the widget (because the widget makes you invite at least five friends in order to see your supposed secret crush).
And, in the end, there is no "secret crush," so you'll just have to keep searching for love in all the wrong places.
For a good rundown of just what this spyware looks like on Facebook, check out the detailed walk-through on Fortiguard's site.
The Secret Crush/Zango adware invasion on popular social networking sigtes is a wake-up call to all of us who have been adding new widgets, willy-nilly, to our Facebook profiles. Let's all be a little more discerning.
From FortiGuard.
Related links:
- Sears Using Spyware to Monitor Your Personal Information
- Facebook Under Fire for Spyware Ad System
- Best Facebook Apps for the Office
- Facebook Ads Raise Privacy Concerns
